


Kywitt, kywitt

by lotesse



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25274062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lotesse/pseuds/lotesse
Summary: It was not often remarked upon, later in their lives, but of course the moment when Anne Shirley cut her stream into the current of young Avonlea society forever changed the connection between Diana Barry and Gilbert Blythe. And, as much as she eventually bound them together, she first began by cutting them apart.
Relationships: Diana Barry & Gilbert Blythe, Diana Barry/Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	Kywitt, kywitt

It was not often remarked upon, later in their lives, but of course the moment when Anne Shirley cut her stream into the current of young Avonlea society forever changed the connection between Diana Barry and Gilbert Blythe. And, as much as she eventually bound them together, she first began by cutting them apart.

Before the advent of Anne, Diana Barry had been one of the more bookish of the youthful Avonlea set, raised on a steady diet of the continental romances so beloved by her rather fanciful, pretty young mother. In their childhood, her ready mind had done as much to attract the clever boy's notice as her vivacious smile and bouncing black curls; she was more fun to tease and play with than some of the other little girls, because she could come up with a quick retort, and would stand her ground with spirit. Diana Barry, young Gilbert Blythe was of the opinion, was the sort of girl who was jolly good fun.

That changed after Anne. When Gilbert re-entered the little world of their community, fresh from the travels that rendered him newly experienced and interesting, Diana was in the heat of new-found passion for Anne. While he'd been away giving a shoulder of support to his father, and trying to keep up his solitary studies, Diana had been feasting her ready mind and heart on the meal of a fresh love affair with the new girl. 

Diana was still the vivid, raven-haired dreamer he'd left behind; but now there was a passionate redhead attached to her side, the two of them forming the nucleus of a new arrangement of the girls' society. When he put his foot in it with Anne, Diana grew cold with him, too, stuck close to her friend in bonded solidarity. 

He didn't blame her for it; if Anne had been his friend, as near and intimate as she was with Diana, he thought he might do just about anything to maintain his connection, his access, to her. Anne was like no kind of girl any of them had seen before, and he was every bit as entranced as Diana, albeit from a greater distance. He missed Diana's companionship, and dreamed of Anne's.

Anne created changes wherever she went, her impacts rippling out around her as she acted, thought, grew. The life of their schoolroom bent around and was shaped by her presence, as her intellectual prowess and ambition made itself known. Gilbert couldn't coast on his natural talents, not if he didn't want her to show him up, and it mattered a great deal that he not look foolish before her. 

Diana, too, he thought, studied more because of Anne; although her family had other plans for her than continued education, Anne's influence made sure that she would always be imaginative, with a keen appreciation for culture.

Gilbert appreciated the young woman Diana was maturing into; and in another world, perhaps he would have romanced her, in the halcyon schoolday times of walks home and social dances. Instead, he got into the habit of going about with Ruby Gillis to such things, and Diana mostly went about with Anne.

The Avonlea youth all settled, sooner or later, in their various ways, and their shared connection to their red-headed darling ended up tying them together in a different way; almost a brother- and sister-in-law, cherished playmates of each other's children and shared fellows in a hundred family scrapes and scares.

“Hey, Blackbird,” Gilbert said lazily, watching Diana bend her still-dark head over little Di's small buttons. “Remember when I used to call you that?”

“And I would be so upset,” Diana said with a laugh. “How small all of our cares in those days seem to me now. I'm pleased enough to have _kept_ my hair – Moira Gillis lost most of hers after her last pregnancy, and she used to be so fond of showing off those curls.”

“Never speak of hair troubles when I am not here,” Anne said, coming in with baby Nan on one hip, and Small Anne Cordelia trailing by her other hand. “For I am sure I find them equally as troubling as I ever did.”

“And your hair suits you as much as it ever did, you silly dear.” Diana, standing, deposited the baby with ceremony in Gilbert's lap and went to pull an elflock that was hanging down from Anne's russet coil, and laughingly kissed her neck, and cheek, and mouth.


End file.
